Corruption in Russia: Causes and Consequences Essay

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Introduction

As Boylan (1-2) argues, corruption is one of the prime causes of Russia’s political, economic and, social problems, because of the rampant involvement of most government officials in corruption. As he further adds, although the government has put down measures to contain the practice, for example, the adoption of the 1997 anti-graft legislation, such efforts have achieved little, as corruption has become a normal practice in the Russian bureaucracy.

One thing that makes the whole scenario worse is the fact that, the same law enforcing officials mandated with the duty of safeguarding the Russian citizenry’s rights, have collaborated with corrupt groups to terrorize the same citizens they took oath to protect. Therefore, as a result of these “gangs” sharing their gains with law enforcing agents, the economic security of most business persons is at stake hence, the common practice of businesspersons also offering bribes to receive protection.

For example, in 1999, over 5.7% of the total annual earnings of the Russian government were bribes. The same has been the trend over subsequent years, because of the increasing corruption index. Although most research findings showed a decline of revenues received from bribe tax by 0.3% from the previous 1.4% in 2006, the corruption index has risen over the recent years, as currently the Russia corruption syndicates contribute over 300 billion annually (Roaf 1-3).

In addition, as media reports indicate, the extortion of money from innocent citizens in Russia has developed into a recognized institution, because the practice is not only common in business world, but also the practice is spreading into learning institutions, military recruiting agencies, and learning institutions. Because of such uncontrolled corruption levels, organizations that have failed to comply with the new corruption standards have been forced to go into liquidation and there is increased lack of media freedom.

In addition, because of the clear connection between corruption and increased crime, security standards have declined in Russia, because of the ever-increasing net of criminal gangs, which evade the long arms of the law, because of the nature of bribes that they offer (Feifer 1). Considering these effects resulting from the escalating levels of corruption in Russia, corruption is one of the primary impediments on Russia’s political and economic stability and democracy.

Causes of corruption

Historically, the falling of communism opened doors to the economic market restructuring of Russia’s economic structures. In the process of that transition, criminal organizations rose into power as most business operators sought ways of protecting their wealth. One of such groups was the Russian Mafia, a criminal gang that controls a bigger section of Russia’s black market.

In addition, back then, Russia lacked a strong police force to combat criminal gangs hence, giving way to increasing cases of insecurity, money laundering and corruption, as this was the only way of protecting one’s acquired wealth (Glenny 10-33). Although incoming and outgoing governments have put up measures to combat these practices, these historically inherited behavioral norms have been the hardest to eliminate from the streets and public offices in Russia.

The corruption net in Russia is very wide, as it involves both government officials and most powerful business stakeholders, who control the biggest ratio of Russia’s economy. Although most individuals assume that corruption is a historical heritage in Russia, as Roaf (2-4) argues, this problem has persisted, because the government of Russia has failed to enact strong legislation to combat the vice.

For example, Russia’s complex tax and custom system does not safeguard citizens from power abusers, who take advantage of weaknesses in the accounting and auditing systems to steal public funds. In addition to such deficits in regulation, the government has also failed adopt effective capital controls to manage the flow of money among its citizenry.

These inadequacies have forced most low-earning government officials to engage in corrupt deals to substantiate their economic deficits. On the other hand, excessive government taxation imposed on citizens has made the scenario worse, as most low-earning employees have to carry the burden of the system.

In addition to weak economic control measures, Russia has a weak legal enforcement system hence, the nature of failures that are clear when it comes to prosecuting crime perpetrators. Majority of crime perpetrators are individuals of the political class and the business elites; hence, considering the influence they have on the government, it becomes very hard to prosecute them, as this may jeopardize the stability of Russia.

In addition to governmental flaws, the civil societal has also failed to defend citizens’ civil rights through monitoring all governmental processes. The fact that there are clear media biases in reporting corruption cases in the government have made the case worse, as most media reports never expose the real corruption level in Russia (Orttung 2-3).

Effects of Corruption in Russia

The Russian corruption takes two primary forms namely; stealing of public finances by governmental officials and soliciting of bribes by governmental officials for any service offered. Regardless of the form of corruption, all sectors of the Russian bureaucracy have felt the effects of corruption.

The effects are so damaging to an extent, most foreign investors have been scared to invest more of their funds in Russia. For example, in 2009, IKEA (a Swedish firm that deals with furniture products) announced its intention to terminate its business expansion prospects, because of the unpredictability of Russia’s market structures.

Considering this, corruption has greatly contributed to the declining growth and development levels in Russia, because of the increased inequality in resource and capital finance distribution. Majority of the individuals who benefit from corruption funds are politicians, prominent businesspersons, some criminalized gangs, hence, the common citizen rarely benefits from such proceeds, although they are the main taxpayers (Stott 1).

One prime product of the rising Russia’s corruption levels is abuse of office power by governmental officials. Soliciting of bribes from citizens by governmental officials has become a common practice among all public office bearers in Russia. This has greatly affected the distribution of public finances, as most of these officials have diverted most public finances into personal pockets.

Such diversion of public funds resulting from abuse of office powers has made the Russian government to loose billions of development revenue. For example, annually the Russian government losses billions of dollars to rogue importers who bribe custom officials hence, evading paying tax. As research studies show, although Russia has no mechanisms of accounting for this in its national budget deficit, this is a clear indication of weaknesses in its revenue management systems.

Economically, corruption has reduced the level of both local and international investment levels, as most investors have expressed intentions of withholding or withdrawing their investments from Russia. Russia is one of the Asian countries with the lowest levels of foreign direct investments, as its increased corruption levels have deterred normal business operations.

On the other hand, corruption is one of the primary factors that have deterred the much anticipated for industrial restructuring. There has been many corruption reported cases among most firms participating in this process, as most of them have to bribe their way into getting the contracts hence, perform poorly (Roaf 4-6).

Another detrimental effect of the increasing levels of corruption in Russia is denial of media freedom. Prior to Putin’s media crackdown of 2006, the media played a central role of exposing all governmental corruption scandals. This changed with the confiscating of media rights hence, the current media biased reports of the level of corruptions.

Majority of currently operating media houses in Russia are state managed or are managed by individuals who have strong ties with the government hence, the current controlled flow of information. Going hand in hand with confiscation of media rights is the declining respect of citizen’s fundamental rights.

The government has failed to protect its citizens from the corrupt hands of middlepersons and law enforcing agents who have greatly abused their powers. Over the recent past, more so prior to the 2007-2008 elections, the government took most previously owned private organizations, for example, the Gazpron energy and Yukos oil company.

This largely has denied citizens property ownership rights, as most individuals cannot afford to pay big taxes or bribes demanded by finance officials to sustain their enterprises. In addition to taking away of media and private ownership rights, as Orttung (4-5) argues, corruption is one of the primary causative agents of the increased state insecurity as more criminal gangs have rose into power.

The organized crime gang net in Russia is very extensive to an extent it operates not only in Russia, but also in other international countries, because of the increased corruption levels in Russia’s custom department. Considering this, although the present leadership has put up measures to deal with the situation, still corruption remains one of the biggest problems facing the Russian government (Serio 11-27).

In conclusion, the impacts of corruption are evident in Russia with the current increasing levels of abuse of power by government officials. Therefore, to remedy the problem, there is need for the Russian government to adopt means of reforming its systems of governance, as this is the only way of cleaning its systems from negative impacts of corruption.

In addition, there is need for development of a free civil society, which should go hand in hand with decentralization of power, because of the need to reduce the current abuse of office of power among its officers.

Works Cited

Boylan, S. . Fordham International Law Journal, 19 (1999). Web.

Feifer, G. . Radio Free Europe, 2007. Web.

Glenny, M. A journey through the global criminal underworld. New York: Knopf Publishers, 2008. Print.

Orttung, R. . Ponar’s Policy Memo, 430 (2006):1. Web.

Roaf, J. . International Monetary Fund, 2000. Web.

Serio, J. Investigating the Russian Mafia. Carolina: Carolina Academic Press, 2008. Print.

Stott, Michael. . Thomson Reuters, 2010. Web.

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